Government will play a greater role in regulating and defining care

Medicare will not be tampered with

The government will define “catastrophic,” “urgent,” and “non-urgent” care. Care deemed “catastrophic” would be paid out of the catastrophic care pool whether patients have insurance or not. No co-pays. The government will also define the universal means test for to be used by hospitals and clinics. It will define what constitutes a frivolous lawsuit, its penalties, and hold responsibility for prosecution.

To pay for this care, the government will establish a catastrophic care fund paid for by federal and state governments, philanthropic organizations and patients who can afford to pay. A similarly funded pool called “uninsured” will be used to run hospital led outreach clinics, which will be responsible for caring for the uninsured. The government will also be responsible for directing and regulating hospitals and patients to abide by the definitions of catastrophic and urgent care.

Other aspects of the government’s role include:

• The government will manage websites that include information about all providers of medical care, their fees and qualifications
• They will lift the prohibition against suing HMO’s
• Expand and devise health saving plans for employees and individuals with incentives that encourage contribution
• Enact tort reform as described under the attorney’s section
• Eliminate pre-authorization/precertification and referrals, along with all the bureaucracy and costs associated
• Regulate health care insurers to conform to these new rules